1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a water-soluble copolymer, a method for the manufacture thereof, and use thereof. More particularly, this invention relates to a water-soluble copolymer composed of an acrylic acid-based component and an allyl ether-based component, a method for the manufacture thereof, and use thereof for scale-preventing agent and pigment dispersant.
2. Description of Prior Arts
As water-soluble polymers, the polymers such as polyacrylic acid, poly(ammonium acrylate), poly(sodium acrylate) and poly(sodium methacrylate) which are obtained by homopolymerizing or copolymerizing acrylic acid, methacrylic acid and alkali salts thereof have been known to the art. These water-soluble polymers are widely used as aqueous slurry dispersants for inorganic pigments and as scale-preventing agents in cooling water systems and wet dust collecting systems. As improved versions of these water-soluble polymers, there have been suggested copolymers of alkyl (meth)acrylates with acrylic acid and copolymers of hydroxyalkyl (meth)acrylates with acrylic acid. To date, however, there has been suggested not a single water-soluble polymer that possesses fully satisfactory properties.
An object of this invention, therefore, is to provide a novel water-soluble copolymer, a method for the manufacture thereof, and novel use thereof.
Another object of this invention is to provide a water-soluble copolymer which is useful as a scale-preventing agent and as a pigment dispersant.